Canny shopper Christopher McGrath thought he’d got a bargain when he snapped up 12 tubes of Colgate toothpaste for £2.99.

But when he got home and saw the 2015 expiry date he wasn’t so sure.

“I thought it was the bargain of the year and was congratulating myself, thinking that I wouldn’t need to buy any more toothpaste for a year,” he said.

However, the October 2015 expiry date left him worried about whether it was safe to use - he wasn’t impressed by the taste either.

“It didn’t taste very nice,” he said. “There was something not quite right.”

Christopher Mcgrath of Golcar who was sold a pack of Colgate toothpaste which had an expiry date of October 2015 from a shop in Huddersfield town centre. Christopher McGrath tries a bit of the toothpaste. (Image: Huddersfield Examiner)

Mr McGrath, 65, a retired carer from Golcar, bought the Colgate Maximum Cavity Protection toothpaste from Bargain World which recently opened on Market Street in Huddersfield town centre.

He reported his concerns to a consumer helpline which said they would be passing his concerns to Trading Standards.

Mr McGrath returned to the shop to raise his concerns but was told there was nothing wrong with the toothpaste, although he was offered his money back.

He said the shop ought to have signs stating that the toothpaste was beyond its expiry date by nearly three years.

The Examiner contacted the shop but the owner, Jonathan Haigh, was not available to comment.

Colgate on sale in Bargain World

A member of staff confirmed the shop was aware of the date on the boxes and said there was nothing to prevent the toothpaste from being sold.

A spokesman for Bargain World said Trading Standards had previously looked into the issue and hadn’t raised any objections.

“There is nothing to stop us selling out of date toothpaste,” he said. “To the best of our knowledge it’s alright.”

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Trading Standards said there didn’t appear to be any ‘specific offence’ relating to selling toothpaste ‘beyond the durability date’.

Christopher Mcgrath of Golcar who was sold a pack of Colgate toothpaste which had an expiry date of October 2015 from a shop in Huddersfield town centre. Packages of the toothpaste with the expiry date. (Image: Huddersfield Examiner)

He added: “It is a requirement to mark cosmetic products where they are deemed to lose their specific properties within 30 months; this is there in order to give users a warning. A good example of this would be sun screen.

“Our general advice to retailers would be that by selling beyond the date, although not automatically an offence, there is a risk that the product becomes ineffective or even unsafe and therefore could potentially risk falling foul of The Consumer Rights Act 2015 regarding the goods being of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. This could vary depending on the product in question.”

A spokesman for Colgate-Palmolive said: “We believe that this product was manufactured for sale abroad.